"Roar!"

With a thunderous cry, an ethereal divine dragon, composed entirely of spirit particles, soared between heaven and earth. Araki stood atop its head, hands folded behind his back, surveying the world below like an emperor gazing over his domain.

"What the hell?!"

"What is that dragon?!"

"Who let him in?!"

The dragon's roar reverberated across the Kidōshū barracks, causing chaos. Shinigami scrambled below, eyes wide with disbelief at the spiritual beast circling overhead.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

Several Kidōshū members reacted swiftly, unleashing mid-level Hadō spells toward Araki and the dragon.

But their efforts were in vain. Araki floated too high, and their spells fizzled into harmless sparks before even brushing the dragon's tail.

"Hadō #32: Ōkasen!"

"Bakudō #9: Geki!"

More Kidō and Bakudō were cast — each carefully incanted — but none reached their mark. The reality sank in like ice: even fully chanted spells couldn't bridge the gap between them and Araki.

"Damn it! He's out of range!"

"We need to get him down!"

Panic swelled among the Kidōshū as they faced a threat their techniques couldn't touch.

Just then, an elderly man in a purple robe, clutching a Zanpakutō-shaped staff, entered the square alongside a tall, mustached man with square glasses.

"Grand Master! Deputy!"

The shinigami immediately relaxed at the sight of their leaders — the Kidō Chief and his Deputy, Hachigen Ushōda.

"What in the world...?"

The Grand Master looked up. His eyes locked onto the massive dragon swirling in the air — and the young man standing atop it — wearing the unmistakable white haori of the Gotei 13.

His expression twisted in fury.

"Is that... a Bankai? A dragon-type Zanpakutō spirit?"

Like the others, he'd made the same mistake — assuming the divine dragon was a manifestation of a Shinigami's Zanpakutō.

But that was their arrogance — the Kidōshū, believing no Shinigami could surpass them in Kidō arts.

"So the Gotei 13 now thinks they can trample over us?" the Grand Master laughed bitterly, spiritual pressure flaring around him like a storm.

He raised his staff.

"Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"

The chantless invocation of such a high-level Hadō sent shockwaves through the square. A massive, blinding bolt of lightning roared into the sky, aimed straight at Araki.

"That's Hadō #88 without an incantation!"

"Unbelievable! As expected of the Great Kidō Master!"

Below, cheers erupted.

But Hachigen Ushōda's eyes narrowed. His instincts told him something was off.

"BOOM!"

The lightning cannon struck the airborne dragon with tremendous force. For a moment, the sky seemed to crack...

Then, the divine dragon stood upright mid-air and began descending — its eyes glowing with primal energy.

"We hit him!"

"He's coming down!"

But only the Grand Master and Hachigen Ushōda sensed the truth: something had gone wrong.

"Scatter! Everyone get back!"

The Grand Master's urgent cries were lost in the cheers of the crowd.

"Bakudō #81: Dankū!" Hachigen chanted. A massive barrier of light appeared in the sky, shielding the Kidōshū members.

The Grand Master followed suit, casting an even thicker wall of light with the same spell.

"Roar!!"

The divine dragon, undeterred, slammed into the barriers — and shattered them like glass.

"BOOM!"

The resulting explosion devastated the entire courtyard. When the dust cleared, dozens of shinigami lay unconscious, strewn across the ground. The Grand Master knelt on one knee, bleeding from every orifice, his spiritual pressure nearly depleted.

Through clenched teeth, he looked up at Araki and gasped:

"That dragon... it's not a Bankai. It's Hadō #99 — Goryūtenmetsu... the 'Five Dragons of Destruction.' A Kidō spell lost to time..."

He realized with bitter clarity: Araki hadn't used a Zanpakutō. He'd performed the legendary 99th Hadō, a spell that the Kidōshū had deemed mythical.

"We mistook a Kidō for a Bankai... disgraceful," the Grand Master murmured.

"And worse, it was cast by a Gotei 13 Shinigami, not one of our own..."

Everything he thought he knew about power — shattered.

"Are you two the most skilled Kidō users in the Kidōshū?" Araki asked, voice calm.

Hachigen Ushōda stepped forward, bowing his head.

"Compared to you, sir... we are not."

"No need to be so modest! The fact that you withstood my Five Dragons Slash proves your mastery of Kidō!"

Araki shook his head slightly, glancing at Hachigen Ushōda and the white-haired elder beside him—both renowned members of the Kidoshu.

"Stop? You call that a stop?"

Tessai turned slowly, surveying the wreckage of the Kidoshu's barracks—utterly annihilated by Araki's Wulong Tanmie technique. The air was thick with scorched spirit particles. Members of the Kidoshu lay unconscious across the ruins.

Just moments ago, their leaders, Dankong and his deputy, had risked their full spiritual pressure to stop Araki—and still failed.

"Don't worry. They just fainted. I was holding back."

Araki's calm declaration shattered the last remnants of their pride.

"That was holding back?! The force that tore through two layers of Dankong's protection and nearly obliterated our barracks...?"

One of the old masters felt his blood surge uncontrollably—and a mouthful of it burst forth.

"I came here today to ask for your help."

Before either master could reply, Araki's voice echoed again, soft but insistent.

"Help? From us?"

Tessai and Hachigen Ushōda exchanged bewildered glances.

"What kind of help could someone like you possibly need? We're just old Kidō specialists. Nothing compared to... whatever you are."

Their Kidō, once considered elite within Soul Society, had proven mediocre at best before Araki.

"I need those who understand Kidō."

Araki paused, then added sincerely, "To be honest... I'm not very good at it."

"You're not—?!"

Tessai and the old man's eyes twitched in disbelief.

"You vaporized our entire clan with so-called 'bad' Kidō?! Are you mocking us?! I don't care how strong you are—I'll bleed out before letting that slide!"

Even Tessai, normally serene, was trembling with suppressed rage.

"You claim you don't know Kidō, and yet we've spent centuries mastering it just to be crushed in seconds? You dare call that humility?!"

The elder clutched his chest, seething. "If you've come to mock us, leave! We'd rather die with dignity than be humiliated like this!"

"You misunderstand," Araki replied. "I haven't trained much in the Ghost Arts. It's just... to me, it's as easy as breathing. And like breathing, I never learned how—it just happens. That's why I came to you."

He looked at them earnestly.

"I need to understand what it's like for others to struggle with Kidō."

Thanks to his maxed-out Spirit Particle Trend ability, Ghost Arts came to him instinctively. That effortless mastery was precisely why he sought guidance—he couldn't grasp the learning curve of others without help.

"You're saying it's like breathing to you?! You arrogant brat...!"

The thousand-year-old Ghost Master's face went pale. He rolled his eyes—and fainted on the spot.

"Master! Master, are you okay?!"

Tessai rushed to his side.

"He's fine," Araki said gently. "He's just a bit too old and... overly excited. I've removed the spiritual bolt in his head. He'll wake soon."

"…"

Tessai didn't believe a word—until the elder groaned and opened his eyes. Tessai exhaled deeply and bowed.

"Thank you... for your help."

"It's nothing," Araki waved it off.

"Am I dead?" the old master asked, eyes wide as he stared at the sky.

"No, Master. You're fine. This captain of the Gotei 13 saved you."

Tessai explained what had happened.

The old man didn't respond immediately. Instead, he looked at Araki darkly. "So... what exactly do you want from us?"

"I want your help researching the true limits of Kidō."

"…"

The elder clutched his chest again, bracing for another cardiac moment.

"I want to combine Kidō and Hakuda—to develop a new hybrid combat system. Would you two be interested in working on this?"

As the old man opened his mouth to unleash more fury, Araki dropped the core idea—the fusion theory behind Shunhong (瞬泓), the technique later developed by Yoruichi Shihōin herself.

"..."

The two Ghost Path elders went silent. Then their eyes lit up with rare excitement. Though Araki's proposal seemed absurd at first, the more they considered it, the more it made sense.

"Are you a master of Hakuda as well?" the elder asked cautiously.

"Yes... and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Hakuda is like drinking water to me..."

Araki gave a helpless shrug.

"Stop. Please, just stop. I get it..." the old man waved, utterly defeated by the youth's unnatural talent.

"Then... where do you plan to find a mortal master of Hakuda?"

"Well, if we're talking about Hakuda," Araki said, "isn't the strongest unit the Onmitsukidō?"

As if only realizing it now, Araki posed the question—but everyone knew it was a calculated move.

"I'll take you there myself!"

The elder shot to his feet, no longer humiliated—now burning with vengeance.

The Onmitsukidō, under Central 46's shadow, would have to share the embarrassment. The Kidō Corps couldn't be the only ones shamed today.

"Good," Araki said, smiling as he watched the old man's pride flare anew.

Everything was going exactly as planned.

To seize control of the Kidoshū and Onmitsukidō, he couldn't come in as a conqueror. He came as a seeker of wisdom.

And in the end, these two proud institutions would not only serve him willingly—but smile as they did it, proclaiming from the bottom of their hearts:

"Captain Araki is both mighty and magnanimous!"

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